A group of parents in Sussex have become the first to win approval to set up their own primary school two years after the government brought in new laws giving parents a chance to run new schools.

Families and local residents in Bolnore Village in west Sussex successfully bid to start an eco-school in local woodlands, it was announced yesterday. The committee which led the bid will set up a governing body to appoint staff, design the school's curriculum and decide the school's admissions procedures.

Ministers said the move showed that their promises of more "parent-power" in education were coming to fruition.

Under the 2006 laws any local authority that wants to open a new school must run a competition to attract the best provider. Eight competitions have been completed since the 2006 act and there are 13 more under way.

West Sussex county council asked for bids for the 210-pupil new primary school for the village. The village has a shortage of local school places, with children from the 850 households attending 20 different primary schools.

Cassandra Yeend, vice chair of the Bolnore school group, said: "The proposal was born of fear - we didn't realise that anyone could bid for a new school and we were worried that some religious sect might come along. We realised this is about our children, our community, then we realised we could bid and succeed."

The school site is in ancient woodland and the building will be in the heart of a nature reserve. The ecological theme would "thread through fabric of school and its ethos", she said.

Yeend, who has two pre-school children she hopes will attend the school, said: "As parents, we're full-time mums and dads and some of us are working too, we hope to set the vision and ethos then get the governing body in to run the school day to day. This policy enables parents to become more proactive."

Parent-run schools like any other must abide by the code of admissions and follow the national curriculum.

The Bolnore school group, made up of residents and local parents, was the only group to submit proposals setting out its vision and ethos for the new school after the Conservative-run West Sussex county council decided not to bid but support the parents, Yeend said. The school will open in September 2009, taking in one new year group a year and will eventually cater for 210 pupils.

Elmgreen secondary school became the first to be created in partnership with parents when it opened in 2007 in West Norwood, London. It came into being after a group of parents decided to do something about the chronic shortage of places for secondary school pupils in the area. The campaign is credited with triggering the government's decision to open up new competitions for parents in 2006.